Happy Happy Birthday RJ!

Here's the RJ that I remember. Not all grown up like he is these days! He's on a mission right now in Maine/ Canada. He's only got a few more weeks left! Happy Birthday big man!

Isn't he so cute?

He's still got that smile!

GQ Elder!

This is my very handsome nephew all grown up. I know it's HIS birthday, but I put these pictures on as a gift for all you ladies who check out my blog!

My sister thinks he's at a secret agent training camp instead of a mission....

The Elder that we love

And finally, the latest picture of my RJ. (He sent this to me hoping to make my blog) I hope he knows how very proud I am of him. He is an example to my family and me. Happy Birthday Elder! We'll see you soon!

A story from my Uncle Doug

I just recieved an email from my Uncle Doug. He's always got the best stories. He read my blog and shared with me a little family history. I thought I would share it with you all!

"I do have a comment about the pioneers that arrived in the Salt Lake Valley that you will find interesting.
Your third great grandfather, Alexander Williams, came to the valley in the spring of 1848, with Brigham Young (after Brigham had returned to Winter Quarters in the fall of 1847 and was sustained as the prophet).
Upon arrival, it was discovered that there were many "critters" on the loose in the valley. These ranged from bears and mountain lions, wolves and coyotes. Wolverines and Badgers were also spotted along with numerous birds of prey and other birds that would destroy young livestock and growing plants.
So--two hunting parties. Alexander Williams was in one of those parties and they set forth to shoot all the critters they could find, to protect their property, livestock, and plants.
When the shooting ended, Alexander and his team won the competition as quoted: He and his fellow exterminators won the sixty-day contest by reporting in with the taken evidence of 516 wolves, 238 foxes, 20 minks, 4 eagles, 173 magpies and 439 ravens!

Now that ought to bring a little life into the party!"

Weekly Update

Hello all! It's Sunday night in the Caufield home. Macen is almost asleep, Grant is in the shower, the dogs are resting..so I have a few minutes to update my blog. It's been a great week. I really do like the lazy days of summer..though I haven't had a chance to be lazy just yet...but I can dream! My sister Kim got home safe. She's a pretty brave girl to drive cross country with 3 kids! (I don't think I could do it) A Big Happy Happy Birthday to my Mother-in-law Linda!
Mom and Dad got the shed up at the property, so another trip is in order! We celebrated the 24th of July in style (see pictures below) and the Dodge should be out of the shop this week. Life is getting back to how it should be! Enjoy the blog this week. I've got more pictures to post..We love you all..Have a great week!

July 24th, 1847

July 24th is a very special day for the members of the LDS faith. It is the day that the pioneers, after being pushed from their homes, beaten, robbed, mocked and persecuted for their beliefs, arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Every year it is celebrated, and remembered. A few years ago, President Hinckley paid tribute to these saints who founded our "Lovely Deseret"

"...But I have felt that we must never permit ourselves to lose sight of the great and singular achievements of those who first came to this valley in 1847.

They came not for riches or gold, but rather to find a place where they could worship God under the revelations which are the foundation of this work. They were outcasts, driven and hounded, persecuted and peeled. Their reliance was on the God of heaven.

When they reached this place, they stopped in spite of entreaties to go on to California or the Northwest. As I have said before, they knew nothing really of the climate of the area, of the conditions of the soil, of the crickets or the grasshoppers with which they soon became acquainted. They had learned all they could concerning the Great Basin, but that was precious little. No one before them had ever grown a potato or an ear of corn or moved a plow to break this sunbaked soil.
I absolutely marvel at the boldness of Brigham Young. In 1868 he said, speaking of their coming here: “We made and broke the road from Nauvoo to this place. … Some of the time we followed Indian trails; some of the time we ran by the compass. When we left the Missouri River we followed the Platte. And we killed rattlesnakes by the cord in some places; and made roads and built bridges till our backs ached. Where we could not build bridges across rivers we ferried our people across, until we arrived here, where we found a few naked Indians, a few wolves and rabbits, and any amount of crickets; but as for any green tree or a fruit tree, or any green fields, we found nothing of the kind, with the exception of a few cottonwoods and willows on the edge of City Creek. For some 1,200 or 1,300 miles we carried every particle of provisions we had when we arrived here.”
He went on to say: “We prayed over the land, and dedicated it, and the water, air and everything pertaining to them unto the Lord, and the smiles of heaven rested on the land and it became productive, and today yields us the best of grain, fruits and vegetables” (quoted in Nibley, Brigham Young, 441–42).
We must never allow recognition of their trials, of their sacrifices, of their tenacity, of their faith and their prayers in establishing this great community to lapse or be forgotten."

24th of July Celebration

For those of you who are LDS, or who have lived in Utah, you know the significance of the 24th of July. It's the date that the Pioneers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Every year it is celebrated.It's a holiday in Utah. Here in Nevada we have our own celebration. This year my ward went to the Grastiet's house. They have a huge pond, with an Island in the middle. They built a huge tree house..(imagine Swiss Family Robinson) They have paddle boats, swings, slides..it's awesome. Here's a few pictures of Macen enjoying the night.

To start the night off, the primary kids showed us their pioneer spirit, and took a trek down the road. They sang, and laughed and talked. I'm pretty sure they were glad to not be "real" pioneers. They were very hot by the end of the walk and couldn't wait to jump in the pond!

Good Morning

We had so much fun this past weekend! We went down to Vegas to see part of my family. Grant had another reason, but we'll talk about that later! We left Fallon at 5:30 pm and got to my brother's house at around 11:30 pm. Macen has been swimming at day camp earlier, so he was exhausted. When we got to Vegas, we fell asleep fast and hard! The next morning my older brother banged on the door at 5:45 am. We crawled out of bed, and made our way to Lake Mead, with a stop at McDonalds. We were on the water by 6:30 am and had the time of our lives, as you will see in the pictures below. We owe a big thanks Bill, Gina, Rache, and Matt. They are soooooo AWESOME! We played on the lake for a while, and then headed back to Bill's house, which by the way, is absolutely beautiful! Maddie and Macen hadn't had enough swimming at the lake, so they jumped into Bill's pool. Macen wanted to swim without his life vest,so my brother helped him get used to the water. You shoud have seen Macen go! The child is a fish. I was so impressed with my brother..Even Grant said that if he could be half the dad that Bill is, he'd be great! After that it was nap time..and boy did we need it. Grant left a little while later to meet some friends to go to the Mandalay Bay center to see Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick in concert! The rest of us had a great dinner, played Rock Band, and watched Transformers. We all got to bed, and Grant got home at around 2 am! We were up by 8 the next morning and on the road a little while later. By the time we got home, we were ready to sleep for a week! We had such a good time, and I was so glad to see my sister! I wish we all lived closer to each other.
Well, enjoy the blog. We love you all!

America's next top model..only smart!

I promised a few people that I would blog a few more pictures of my niece!

Launching

Here's Lake Mead in the early morning...Beautiful huh?

My sister-in-law Gina drove the boat into the water like a pro!

We're almost ready to go!

The Boat ride

Here's the captain...My brother Bill.

Here's mom and Rache

Grant and Kim!

Hoover Dam

In honor of "Vegas Vacation" we went on a "Dam" tour... For you younger folk... Megatron was housed here!

Here's another shot of Hoover Dam!

Lake Mead is pretty shallow these days! You can see where the water used to go up to..

Matt and Grant

Here's Grant on his way to the jump sight..

Matt and Grant went a little too high for our tastes, so they had to come down a little

Here's Matt jumping...the kid has no fear!

Bucket List....1 down!

Grant was my guide to the spot to jump!

Here's Grant trying to get me to jump

I actually jumped....(I was scared to death)

The Family

Here's Kaylee and Will

Here's Matt

Here's Rache.....

The Wild Life

As we were swimming, my brother noticed this big horned sheep coming down for a drink. Of course, he was then amazed by my beauty..(ha ha)

Macen jumps!

My brave little man jumped off the ledge ...didn't even think twice about it!

He decided to swim back to the boat..

Uncle Bill gave him a little help!